$2 million US
dollar verdict against Bayer confirms
company's liability for an uncontrollable
technology
Greenpeace welcomes the United States
federal jury ruling on 4 December 2009 that
Bayer CropScience LP must pay $2 million US
dollars to two Missouri farmers after their
rice crop was contaminated with an
experimental variety of rice that the
company was testing in 2006.
This verdict confirms that the
responsibility for the consequences of GE
(genetic engineering) contamination rests
with the company that releases GE crops.
Bayer has admitted it has been unable to
control the spread of its
genetically-engineered organisms despite
'the best practices [to stop
contamination]'(1). It shows that all
outdoors field trials or commercial growing
of GE crops must be stopped before our crops
are irreversibly contaminated.
A report prepared for Greenpeace
International concluded that the total costs
incurred throughout the world as a result of
the contamination are estimated to range
from $741 million to $1.285 billion US
dollars.(2) The verdict indicates that Bayer
is liable for what could turn out to be a
large proportion of these costs, as it
awards damages in the first two of more than
1,000 currently pending lawsuits. The
decision must be used to support all claims
for losses incurred by other US farmers
whose crops have suffered from GE
contamination.
(1) Bayers Defense lawyer, Mark Ferguson as
reported in Harris, A. 2009.
Bayer Blamed at Trial for Crops
'Contaminated' by Modified Rice. Bloomberg
News 4th November 2009, available at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aT1kD1GOt0N0
(2) E.N. Blue (2007) Risky Business.
Economic and regulatory impacts from the
unintended release of genetically engineered
rice varieties into the rice merchandising
system of the US. Report prepared for
Greenpeace International, available online
at
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/risky-business.pdf.
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